PARIS, France — ANDAM has appointed Guillaume Houzé as its new president, effective immediately. Houzé will maintain his position at Galeries Lafayette, where has held the position as image and communication manager for the past four years. He has also been on ANDAM's board of directors as a representative of the private sponsors since 2014. Houzé succeeds Saint Laurent co-founder Pierre Bergé, who passed away at age 86 in September.

"We're very pleased with the appointment of Guillaume Houzé [who] has always been very involved and curious with the new generation of fashion designers," says Nathalie Dufour, founder and general manager of ANDAM, the non-profit fashion organisation founded in 1989. "[Guillaume and Galeries Lafayette's] constant commitment to supporting fashion echoes the meaning and mission Pierre Bergé and I have always been committed to give to ANDAM."

“I’m very humbled by the trust that the ANDAM’s board of directors have placed in me and am very honoured to take on the presidency of such a prestigious association,” added Houzé in a statement. “As the fashion industry faces unprecedented changes, ANDAM has, more than ever, a decisive role to play in bringing out the talents that will contribute to tomorrow’s fashion industry.”

Under the guidance of Bergé and support of the French Ministry of Culture and DEFI, ANDAM runs an annual competition for emerging fashion designers, offering the grand winner of the ANDAM Award the opportunity to present at Paris Fashion Week as well as mentoring and €250,000 ($291,000) in prize money.

The first recipient of the prize was Martin Margiela, in 1989. Over the years, a number of high-profile designers, including Christophe Lemaire, Anthony Vaccarello and most recently Glenn Martens from Paris-based label Y/Project, have gone on to win.

The ANDAM Award is just one of ANDAM's four prizes that grant financial funding and mentoring to winners — the Creative Label Prize, Fashion Accessories Prize and a newly introduced Fashion Innovation Award launched this year granting the winner €30,000 ($35,000) in prize money. This year's winner of the Fashion Innovation Award was Audrey-Laure Bergenthal of the "smart mannequins" company Euveka, which is set to be scaled under Houzé's helm.

ANDAM will look to seize on Houzé’s retail experience to further develop the prizes. “My ambition is to increase the [Fashion Innovation] award and to launch a collaboration [with Galeries Lafayette,] says Dufour. “Galeries Lafayette is really involved and invested in innovative startups. It’s very important to be there for future fashion innovators [and] Guillaume and Galeries Lafayette will be very good for this.”

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